Matt, again thanks for posting. One post seemed mainly addressed to me; hope you don't mind me cutting and pasting what you said so I can address your points in a way that all know what I'm referring to.

>>>>PCP, more people kill a 5 bird limit than your estimate. I'll just leave it right there.<<<<

I didn't make up the 2% figure I used. It was given to me by a state employee who had access to the hunter survey. Maybe he didn't have all the info at the time. I know you aren't to blame, but at a time when the state is apparently planning to make drastic changes in our turkey hunting, it is really concerning to me that this info is deliberately being covered up by the state. This one decision made by somebody has caused me to lose a lot of the good will I had built up toward the department in over 50 years of hunting. Tax money financed this research; why on earth is it covered up? I guess that's a rhetorical question; I sure don't expect an answer from anyone.

>>>Turkey24/7 and PCP, since you like to support AU so much, and the words of wisdom that have come from their research for the last several decades.....
There is currently a model we are using that I am not smart enough to understand nor explain.<<<

And then you reference the kind of computer model that is used for the climate change hysteria. I'm not smart enough to understand it either, but I know the outputs of any computer program depend on the inputs, and the inputs are a human decision. And there are plenty of eggheads at Auburn like any university; that's where I first got to know the type.

>>>Shifting seasons or shortening/lengthening them has far more consequence than you might think. Enough so, that poult production and recruitment can be impacted positively or negatively depending on the change in season structure.<<<

I'm not going to dispute this, I just wonder how? Is the number of hens killed by hunters the cause? Is it hunters disturbing the nests and causing them to abandon them? If you still have plenty of gobblers in an area all the way thru the end of turkey season, then how can the gobblers have anything to do with poult recruitment? If they somehow do, why isn't there an effort by the state to educate the hunters on it? At least some of us will try to do the right thing if we know what it is. I need something more than just being told that a computer model predicts it if I'm going to change what I'm doing.

>>>Whether you like it or not, there are thousands upon thousands more turkey hunters in AL than there was a decade ago. And even more than two decades ago. <<<

Well, let's look at some facts and see if that really is true whether I like it or not:

2014-60,000 licensed turkey hunters; 42,000 killed.
2004 - 57,000 hunters; 53,000 killed.
1994 - 47,000 hunters; 40,000 killed.
1984 - 38,000 hunters, 37,000 killed.
1975 - 30,000 hunters; 20,000 killed.

I guess it is technically accurate to say there are thousands upon thousands more hunters now than a decade ago, but that's an unusual way to describe 3000. In the past 40 years the number of hunters has doubled, but so has the harvest. Look at the actual results and you will see that we have averaged very close to one bird per hunter for the past 40 years, and that's as far back as the survey goes. And since 1982, it has never been below .6 and never been above 1.1

http://www.outdooralabama.com/sites/default/files/20132014HunterHarvestSurvey.pdf

I just don't see the crisis here. I see a system that has worked extremely well, except in areas that apparently just won't support turkeys.

>>>Ya'll are basing your opinions on research that was conducted 35-50 years ago, when NOBODY hunted turkeys<<<

I think the info I posted refutes the idea that nobody hunted turkeys. Much of north AL didn't even have turkeys in the 70s and 80s. The fact that hunter numbers have increased since then could only be expected. The fact the harvest has risen with the hunter numbers sure looks to me like the system put in place long ago has worked extremely well, and far better than the "enlightened" systems of other states.

>>>Not making a change is foolish.<<<

Well, there we have it. Matt knows what is going on, so it is apparently already decided. I am obviously wasting my time by trying to promote the AL system that has worked so well for so long. I'm near the end of my turkey hunting career, so it won't have much effect on me. When you younger guys are my age and hoping you can draw a tag so you can turkey hunt the next season, I hope you can still remember the good ole days. If you doubt me, just check the regs in Wisconsin. They have nearly as many turkeys as we do, but see what you have to go thru to hunt one. That's the kind of model that many desire for us. I suspect we will eventually have it.

I think I have said too much. My apologies to all I have offended. I am passionate about turkey hunting, but I am also passionate about promoting the AL system as the best way to manage turkeys for the good of the flock and hunters alike. Perhaps the world has passed me by.

A good evening to all!